State of BNB Chain Q4 2024

Key Insights

• BNB’s market cap reached $101.09 billion in Q4’24, a 22% QoQ increase and a 114% YoY increase from $47.31 billion at the start of the year. Revenue for the year totaled $234.0 million, making BNB Smart Chain one of the top L1s by revenue.
• DeFi TVL grew 53% YoY to $5.35 billion by year-end, with a notable 10% QoQ increase in Q4. PancakeSwap and Venus Finance remained dominant, while ListaDAO emerged as a major player, driven by liquid staking solutions and innovative product launches.
• DEX volume surged throughout the year, with a 269% YoY increase in average daily volume. Q4 alone saw a 122% QoQ rise, reaching $1.29 billion in daily volume, driven by PancakeSwap’s dominance and contributions from new entrants like Uniswap.
• Technical advancements marked a transformative year for BNB Smart Chain. The BNB Beacon Chain sunset, widespread adoption of the Builder API Specification, and the implementation of BEP-341 enhanced network efficiency, security, and MEV. By year-end, 96% of blocks utilized the Builder API.

Primer

BNB Chain (BNB) is an ecosystem of blockchains where each chain serves a particular function. The three core components of BNB Chain are as follows:

• BNB Smart Chain (BSC): Smart contract layer and DeFi hub. Also is the staking and governance layer with the BNB Beacon Chain being discontinued.
• BNB Greenfield: Decentralized storage network. As a vital component of the One BNB paradigm, Greenfield focuses on live, valuable data and lets users create their own personal data marketplace.
• opBNB: High-performance optimistic rollup. opBNB is ideal for Dapps that require high transaction frequency, like fully onchain games. It offers the lowest gas fees among L2s, with transactions costing <$0.0001. It delivers very high performance, processing between 5,000 and 10,000 TPS.

The metrics in this report will mostly focus on BNB Smart Chain (BSC). BSC is an EVM-compatible, Layer-1 blockchain secured by a form of Proof-of-Staked-Authority (PoSA) that combines aspects of Proof-of-Authority (PoA) and Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS). In PoSA on BSC, the validator set is of fixed size and is elected by stake weight (staked plus bonded). In addition, validators must continue staking assets to secure the network, and validators chosen to produce blocks are rotated (not based on stake weight). For a full primer on the BNB Chain ecosystem, refer to our Ecosystem report.

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Key MetricsFinancial OverviewMarket Cap and Revenue

Amongst the backdrop of a surging crypto market spurred on by the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, BNB set a new all-time high ($789 on Dec. 4) in Q4’24. At the end of the quarter, BNB’s market cap was $101.09 billion, up 22% QoQ. BNB’s market cap amongst all tokens (excluding stablecoins) fell by one to four overall due to XRP’s market cap rising substantially in Q4. As for the entire year, BNB’s market cap increased 114% YoY from $47.31 billion. Furthermore, BNB slightly underperformed BTC over this time period, as it increased 122% YoY from $832.94 billion to $1.852 trillion.

Revenue, which measures all fees collected by the network, also experienced an upswing in Q4. In USD terms, revenue in Q4 was $44.6 million, up 28% QoQ from Q3’s revenue of $34.9 million. Revenue in BNB was also up, increasing 10% QoQ from 63,500 BNB to 69,500 BNB. In 2024, BNB’s revenue totaled $234.0 million, making it one of the top L1 blockchains by revenue.

Gas fees paid on DeFi-related transactions have historically been the largest individual contributor to revenue. Q4 continued this trend, as the DeFi category contributed 8,900 BNB in gas fees (down 12% QoQ). Notably, however, DeFi’s share of revenue also decreased by 21% QoQ to 12.8%. Revenue related to wallet-to-wallet transactions was flat QoQ at 8,700 BNB. Its share of revenue was down 10% QoQ to 12.6%. The two categories with the biggest QoQ increases were infrastructure (up 19% QoQ to 1,000 BNB) and tokens (up 19% QoQ to 800 BNB). Their share of revenue in Q4 was 1.4% and 1.2%, respectively. The stablecoin (down 9% QoQ to 4,700 BNB) and MEV (down 23% QoQ to 1,700 BNB) categories both saw decreases in revenue for Q4.

Supply Dynamics

The initial total token supply for BNB was 200 million tokens (launched in July 2017). BNB is deflationary through a series of burning mechanisms:

• Auto-Burn: A mechanism that automatically burns varying amounts of BNB every quarter, depending on the token’s price and the number of blocks generated on BNB Chain during said quarter.
• Pioneer Burn: A program that counts all BNB accidentally lost by new or careless BNB Chain users as part of the quarterly burns. The project team reimburses users for accepted cases.
• Gas Fees Burn: In accordance with BEP-95, 10% of all gas fees incurred on BNB Smart Chain are burned automatically. The remaining 90% is rewarded to validators and stakers.

By quarter end, the circulating supply of BNB was 144.0 million, giving BNB an annualized deflation rate of 5.3% (up 18% QoQ). Lastly, the 29th quarterly BNB burn occurred on November 1. 1.8 million BNB was burned, equivalent to $1.07 billion at the time of the burn transaction. Burned BNB came from the Auto-Burn mechanism and BTokens.

Network OverviewOnchain Activity

Onchain activity rebounded on BNB Smart Chain in Q4, in part due to a rallying market. Average daily transactions trended higher in Q4, up 18% QoQ from 3.4 million to 4.0 million. Average daily active addresses also experienced an upward trend in Q4, increasing 8% QoQ from 868,300 to 868,300. Over the past year, both average daily transactions and average daily active addresses decreased, falling 12% YoY and 10% YoY, respectively.

Broken down by category, stablecoins represented nearly half (45%) of all transactions on BNB Smart Chain for Q4, averaging 925,200 daily transactions, up 32% QoQ from 700,400. The second-highest category by daily transaction count was wallet-to-wallet transfers, which averaged 553,400 daily transactions (up 26% QoQ from 440,300. Combined, stablecoin transactions and wallet-to-wallet transactions represented 73% of all transactions in Q4. Other categories that saw notable QoQ increases in daily transaction counts were Tokens (up 15% QoQ to 87,600) and MEV (up 29% QoQ to 79,700). The only categories with QoQ declines were DeFi (down 24% QoQ to 299,300) and others (down 43% QoQ to 39,500.

Similarly to transactions, stablecoins accounted for the most active addresses of any singular category on BNB Smart Chain in Q4. Stablecoins ended the quarter with an average of 376,000 daily active addresses (up 24% QoQ from 304,200). Half of all daily active addresses in Q4 interacted with stablecoins. The second largest category by active addresses was wallet-to-wallet transfers. Average daily active addresses for wallet-to-wallet transfers were up 10% QoQ to 209,800. The only other category with a QoQ increase was tokens, which was up 6% QoQ to 42,300.

Security & Decentralization

BNB Smart Chain utilizes a Proof-of-Staked Authority (PoSA) consensus mechanism in which 45 validator nodes are elected every 24 hours to participate in consensus. Their election is based on the total number of BNB tokens staked by/to each node. Of these 45 validators, the top 21 with the highest staked amounts are “Cabinets,” while the remaining 24 are “Candidates.” Then, 18 of the 21 “Cabinets” and 3 of the 18 “Candidates” are randomly selected to produce blocks for the given epoch. Selected validator nodes then take turns producing blocks based on Ethereum’s Clique consensus design.

With BNB Chain’s Feynman Upgrade on April 18, the maximum amount of active validators on BNB Smart Chain increased from 40 to 45. Since the upgrade, there have been 45 active validators on BNB Smart Chain, signaling strong network security and a healthy appetite for operating validators on BNB Smart Chain.

Total BNB staked decreased after three straight quarters of increases, in part due to the staking transitioning from BNB Beacon Chain to BNB Smart Chain. Total BNB staked decreased by 9% QoQ from 32.4 million to 29.6 million. However, since the price of BNB appreciated in Q4, the dollar amount of BNB staked increased by 14% QoQ from $18.3 billion to $20.8 billion. Compared to other PoS networks, BNB Smart Chain had the fourth-highest dollar value of funds staked by the end of 2024, dropping one spot behind Sui.

As for the full year, BNB Smart Chain experienced significant growth in staking, in part due to the aforementioned transition of staking from BNB Beacon Chain to BNB Smart Chain. Total BNB staked increased 34% YoY from 22.1 million, while the dollar amount of BNB staked increased by 202% YoY from $6.9 billion.

MEV

BEP-322, a proposal for Proposer-Builder Separation (PBS) on BNB Smart Chain validators, went live last quarter in Q2. BEP-322 was implemented as a builder API specification to address the fragmentation of MEV (maximal extractable value) solutions on BSC. This specification creates a unified and open MEV market where block proposers (i.e., validators) do not play a role in selecting which transactions are included in the proposed block. Instead, block builders create possible blocks and submit them to the validator proposing a block. The validator then selects the proposed blocks that net them the most fees. This new mechanism brings stability and transparency to BNB Chain’s MEV market while also promoting healthy market competition for block builders.

BNB Smart Chain’s Builder API Specification went live in May. In Q4, 96% of all blocks were built using the Builder API Specification, up 16% QoQ from 83% in Q3. Furthermore, as of writing, there are 35 different block builders on BNB Smart Chain.

Network Capacity Optimization

One initiative in Q4 was improving BNB Smart Chain’s capacity and throughput. On November 7, BEP-341 was implemented on BNB Smart Chain. BEP-341 introduces a mechanism on BNB Smart Chain allowing the same validator to produce up to four consecutive blocks. Prior, a validator could only propose one block at a time.

Additionally, BNB Smart Chain aims to implement BEP-396 in 2025, which introduces a txDAG hint-based parallel EVM. This is designed to enhance blockchain performance by structuring transaction processing based on dependencies, allowing non-conflicting transactions to execute in parallel. This approach reduces the need for costly re-executions, thereby increasing throughput and optimizing resource utilization on networks like BNB Chain.

BNB Beacon Chain Sunset

In Q2, BNB Beacon Chain began the process of being sunset. While BNB Beacon Chain was used as BNB Chain’s staking and governance layer, it introduced complexity and some security vulnerabilities due to the bridging between BSC and BNB Beacon Chain. For this reason, BNB Chain began migrating BNB Beacon Chain functionality to BNB Smart Chain. In Q4, BEP-333: Chain Fusion was finally implemented across four different upgrades:

1. BNB Beacon Chain First Sunset Fork (Implemented on April 15) - Disabled cryptocurrency issuance and minting features on BNB Beacon Chain.
2. BNB Smart Chain Feynman Hard Fork (Implemented on April 18) - Enabled validator creation and governance functionality on BNB Smart Chain.
3. BNB Beacon Chain Second Sunset Fork (Implemented on July 14) - Disabled governance and delegation capabilities on BNB Beacon Chain.
4. BNB Beacon Chain Final Sunset Fork (Implemented on December 3) - Halted BNB Beacon Chain and disabled cross-chain communication to BNB Smart Chain.

Ecosystem OverviewDeFi

BNB Smart Chain DeFi TVL denominated in USD, increased from $4.85 billion in Q3 to $5.35 billion, a 10% QoQ increase. This ranked BNB Smart Chain as the fifth-highest chain by TVL denominated in USD by the end of the quarter, falling one spot after being surpassed by Bitcoin in December. For 2024, TVL denominated in USD increased 53% YoY from $3.5 billion. TVL denominated in BNB was down in Q4, decreasing 8% QoQ from 8.3 million BNB to 7.6 billion. This dynamic indicates that part of the TVL increase in USD was driven by the price appreciation of BNB.

The top two protocols by TVL on BNB Smart Chain are PancakeSwap and Venus Finance. Pancakeswap, the largest protocol by TVL, increased 7% QoQ from $1.64 billion to $1.76 billion, surpassing Venus Finance. PancakeSwap consists of three different AMMs (PancakeSwap AMM, StableSwap, and AMM V3). By the end of Q4, AMM TVL was $1.34 billion (76% of TVL), StableSwap TVL was $24.7 million (1% of TVL), and AMM V3 TVL was $376.0 million (21% of TVL). However, despite the increase in TVL, PancakeSwap’s TVL dominance decreased to 33% (down 6% QoQ from 35%).

Venus Finance, the second largest protocol by TVL, decreased 5% QoQ from $1.79 billion to $1.70 billion. Notably, despite the decrease in TVL, borrows increased from $454 million in Q3 to $857 million in Q4, an 89% QoQ increase. By the end of Q4, Venus Finance’s TVL dominance was 32% (down 17% QoQ from 38%).

The biggest gainer in QoQ terms within the top six was ListaDAO, a CDP stablecoin lending and liquid staking protocol. Its TVL increased 174% QoQ from $198.4 million to $544.5 million. New product launches in Q4, such as External LP Emissions and Bribe Markets, helped catapult ListaDAO into the top three protocols by TVL on BNB Smart Chain. Additionally, ListaDAO was a large beneficiary of BNB Smart Chain’s efforts in 2024 to simplify staking.

Avalon Labs, PinkSale, and Aave round out the top six, which all experienced TVL gains in Q4. Avalon Labs, a lending protocol for BTC-based assets on multiple networks, increased its TVL by 86% QoQ from $159.4 million to $296.3 million. BTCFi became a top priority for BNB Smart Chain in the latter half of 2024, which helped drive Avalon Labs’ success. Additionally, since the majority of Avalon Labs’ TVL is denominated in BTC, BTC’s Q4 price rally also helped boost TVL. PinkSale, a token launchpad protocol, had a TVL increase of 8% QoQ from $179.2 million to $193.9 million. Rounding out the top six was the popular lending protocol Aave. Aave’s TVL increased 82% QoQ from $64.3 million to $116.9 million. Aave overtook UNCX Network for the final spot in the top six in Q4.

In Q4’23, BNB Smart Chain introduced the TVL Incentive Program. The program aims to reward projects deployed within the ecosystem that attract significant amounts of TVL. In Q4, Phase 4 ended, running from September 12 to October 19. Phase 4 was a two-part program featuring prize pools for two categories: Liquid Staking and DeFi. In total, $100,000 was rewarded to three projects:

1. ListaDAO - $50,000

2. Venus Finance - $30,000

3. PancakeSwap - $20,000

With the migration of validation and staking services to BNB Smart Chain this past year, liquid staking has become a top priority for the BNB Chain ecosystem. Concurrently, ListaDAO’s liquid staking solution, slisBNB, has emerged as the dominant liquid staking solution on BNB Smart Chain. By the end of Q4, 766,000 BNB ($539.6 million) was deposited in liquid staking solutions. Compared to last quarter, the amount of liquid staked BNB was up 79% QoQ from 428,700. Furthermore, ListaDAO’s slisBNB represented 97% of all liquid staked BNB (748,300).

After a lull during the summer months of 2024, DEX volumes saw a resurgence across most smart contract platforms in Q4. BNB Smart Chain was a beneficiary of this trend as the average daily DEX volume increased by 122% QoQ from $578.1 million to $1.29 billion. BNB Smart Chain had the fourth most DEX volumes of any chain in Q4 ($117.57 billion). Only Solana ($305.56 billion), Ethereum ($204.27 billion), and Base ($128.69 billion) had more DEX volume. For the entire year, the average daily DEX volume on BNB Smart Chain increased 269% YoY. In Q4’23, the average daily DEX volume was $348.8 million.

By the end of Q4, there were 71 different DEXs (up 2 QoQ) on BNB Smart Chain. Despite the high level of competition, PancakeSwap has historically been the most dominant DEX on BNB Smart Chain. In Q4, PancakeSwap’s average daily DEX volume was $1.09 billion, up 126% QoQ from $479.9 million. PancakeSwap’s dominance increased by 2% QoQ from 83% to 84%. The biggest gainer in average daily volume for Q4 was Swaap. Its average daily volume increased 4,656% QoQ to $2.3 million, making it the sixth largest DEX on BNB Smart Chain by volume. For Q4, the top six DEXs by average daily trading volume were:

1. PancakeSwap ($1.09 billion - 84% of BNB Smart Chain DEX volume)

2. THENA ($79.3 million - 6% of BNB Smart Chain DEX volume)

3. Uniswap ($63.2 million - 5% of BNB Smart Chain DEX volume)

4. DODO ($38.5 million - 3% of BNB Smart Chain DEX volume)

5. WOOFi ($2.6 million - <1% of BNB Smart Chain DEX volume)

6. Swaap ($2.3 million - <1% of BNB Smart Chain DEX volume)

Stablecoins & BTC

Stablecoins on BNB Smart Chain achieved noticeable growth in 2024. For Q4, the stablecoin market cap increased 37% QoQ from $5.00 billion to $6.84 billion. For the entire year, the stablecoin market cap increased 50% YoY from $4.55 billion. By the end of 2024, BNB Smart Chain had the third-highest stablecoin market cap, only behind Ethereum ($111.24 billion) and TRON ($58.54 billion).

USDT, the largest stablecoin on BNB Smart Chain, saw its market cap increase from $3.98 billion to $5.17 billion. By the end of Q4, USDT represented 76% of the stablecoin market on BNB Smart Chain (down 5% QoQ from 79%). USDT’s loss in market share was a result of new stablecoins like USDX and lisUSD. USDX, a synthetic USD stablecoin backed by delta-neutral positions, launched in October and quickly became a top stablecoin on BNB Smart Chain, reaching a market cap of $438.8 million by quarter end. lisUSD is ListaDAO’s collateral debt position backed stablecoin. It saw significant growth in Q4, increasing 108% QoQ to $74.4 million.

At the end of Q3, BNB Smart Chain launched the “Gas-Free Carnival,” an initiative to increase stablecoin adoption on the platform. The Gas-Free Carnival allows users to transfer stablecoins with no gas fees, offering several options for seamless transactions:

• Gas-Free Stablecoin Transfers: Users can send USDT, USDC, and FDUSD across BNB Smart Chain and opBNB with no gas fees, supported by Bitget Wallet and SafePal.
• 0-Fee Withdrawals: Participating exchanges like Binance, Bitget, Gate.io, and SafePal offer fee-free withdrawals of these stablecoins to BNB Smart Chain.
• Free Bridging via Celer cBridge: Celer cBridge allows users to bridge supported stablecoins to BNB Smart Chain or opBNB networks without cost.

The Gas-Free Carnival lasts until March 31, 2025.

BTCB is one of the largest assets by market cap on the BNB Smart Chain, outside of BNB and stablecoins. It is a tokenized version of Bitcoin on the BNB Smart Chain. The supply of BTCB in Q4 was flat QoQ 65,300, equivalent to $6.13 billion. As for BTCB holders, they increased by 5% QoQ to just slightly over 1 million. BNB Smart Chain has been bolstered by its emergent BTCFi ecosystem. Projects like Solv Finance, Lorenzo, Lombard Finance, and more offer BTCB holders on BNB Smart Chain the opportunity to participate in various DeFi opportunities.

opBNB

opBNB is an EVM-compatible optimistic rollup that helps scale execution throughput for BNB Smart Chain. Since launching in the middle of Q3’23, total value bridged (TVB) has been in a consistent uptrend. In Q4, TVB to opBNB increased 10% QoQ from $78.9 million to $86.5 million. USDT (up 1% QoQ to $52.8 million) remains the most popular bridged token on opBNB, representing 61% of all TVB. In percentage terms, BNB was the biggest gainer in Q4, increasing 30% QoQ to $30.4 million.

NFTs

NFT activity slumped for the majority of Q4. As a result, the average daily NFT trading volume in Q4 decreased 27% QoQ from $600,400 to $441,200. Average daily sales also saw a decrease, down 87% QoQ from 8,900 to 1,200. However, on December 12, MagicEden, one of the most popular NFT exchanges, added support for BNB Smart Chain. From December 12 to December 31, the average daily NFT trading volume was $518,700. The added support of MagicEden should bolster NFT activity on BNB Smart Chain in 2025.

Ecosystem Growth

BNB Chain continues to support new projects within its ecosystem through its Most Valuable Builder (MVB) Accelerator Program. In October, BNB announced the results of the eighth season of MVB. There were over 500 applications, and thirty-five different projects were chosen as a part of the Season 8 cohort. Projects ranged across DeFi, infrastructure, and applications, and winning projects can be found here.

Season 9 of MVB was also announced in December. Season 9 of the BNB Chain MVB program offers a focused four-week acceleration for early-stage Web3 projects building within the AI <> Crypto sector, with continued collaboration between YZi Labs, CMC Labs, and BNB Chain.

Outside of the MVB Accelerator Program, BNB Chain hosted a hackathon in Q4. Application submissions were open from December 15 to January 1, and over 200 different applications were submitted. The total prize pool consisted of $458,000, and the winners of the hackathon were announced on January 24:

1. First place ($15,000) - PayNova

2. Second Place ($10,000 each) - Outrun and AgentArcade

3. Third Place ($5,000 each) - RhythmMural, StarBridge, and DoubtEarn

A list of all other projects that qualified for prize money can be found here.

BNB Chain also launched a series of community and ecosystem initiatives in Q4:

• BNB Incubation Alliance (BIA) in Dubai (October 10) - BNB Incubation Alliance, an incubator program for early-stage ecosystem projects seeking BNB grants and investments from Binance Labs, hosted an event at Binance Blockchain Week in Dubai. The winner of the event was Multipli, a ZK-based multichain yield protocol.
• Meme Innovation #4 (October 17) - The fourth round of Meme Innovation offered a $200,000 prize pool and up to $100,000 in liquidity provider (LP) support to strengthen the BNB Smart Chain memecoin ecosystem. The program focused on fostering creativity, launching new meme coins, and enhancing liquidity for existing projects. Participants also gained tailored marketing opportunities and access to resources to scale and grow within the BNB Smart Chain community.
• BNB Incubation Alliance (BIA) in Bangkok (November 5) - The fifth BNB Incubation Alliance, held during DevCon in Bangkok, celebrated three winning projects: XPIN Network, a decentralized wireless platform enabling global 4G/5G access; Oneverse, a full-stack solution provider revolutionizing digital content through localized Web3 integrations; and Pieverse, a decentralized platform bridging Web3 and real-world commerce through direct community and merchant connections.
• One-Stop Tokenization Solution (November 6) - BNB Smart Chain launched its One-Stop Tokenization Solution, which enables businesses to tokenize assets like loyalty points, NFTs, and financial instruments. The solution simplified asset creation and management, supporting scalability and integration with blockchain ecosystems.
• NFT Loyalty Program (November 21) - BNB Smart Chain unveiled its NFT Loyalty Program, which enables brands to implement NFT-based loyalty programs, offering scalable tools to reward customers with blockchain assets. These programs enhance engagement and retention through tokenized incentives such as exclusive access, discounts, and rewards, bridging traditional and blockchain-based customer experiences.
• BNB Chain as an AI-First Blockchain (December 27) - BNB Smart Chain outlined its evolving AI ecosystem, showcasing its role in driving innovation within Web3. The initiative provides AI-powered tools and infrastructure to support developers, enabling the creation of smarter dApps and services. Key applications include integrating AI into DeFi platforms, NFT ecosystems, and decentralized applications, opening new possibilities for personalized user experiences and data-driven solutions.

Closing Summary

2024 was a transformative year for BNB Smart Chain, marked by significant progress in onchain activity, ecosystem growth, and more. BNB reached a new all-time high of $789 in Q4, closing the year with a market cap of $101.09 billion, a 114% YoY increase. Revenue for the year totaled $234.0 million, reflecting strong network activity and adoption. Onchain activity showed resilience in Q4 despite YoY declines, with Q4 bringing a resurgence in transactions and active addresses. DeFi TVL grew 53% YoY to $5.35 billion, driven by established protocols like PancakeSwap and Venus Finance and emerging players like ListaDAO. Liquid staking became a key focus, with ListaDAO capturing 97% of liquid-staked BNB by year-end.

Ecosystem initiatives throughout the year, including the TVL Incentive Program and MVB Accelerator, spurred innovation and engagement. DEX volumes surged, with PancakeSwap maintaining dominance and THENA and Uniswap emerging as notable contributors. The BNB Beacon Chain sunset and adoption of the Builder API Specification capped a year of technical advancements, enhancing efficiency, security, and MEV market transparency. With sustained financial growth, ecosystem expansion, and technical innovation, BNB Smart Chain is well-positioned to maintain its momentum into 2025.